After a stellar performance on Saturday for the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve that saw Lotus F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado qualify 5th and 6th respectively, the team aims for its best outing in nearly two years.
Grosjean finished third FP3 with a time of 1:16.772 behind Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen. The daunting number is how far the Lotus F1 team was behind the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS machine driven by Rosberg – exactly 1.112s back.
Both squads are powered with Mercedes engines.
Still, the performance has reinvigorated a team that has a best finish of 7th twice this season, both by Grosjean, heading into the Canadian Grand Prix.
“It’s great for the team,” Grosjean said after qualifying. “We’ve been competitive since our first lap here this weekend; staying in the top seven all the time. The car’s been feeling great today; P1 in Q1, P3 in Q2 and finally P5 to start tomorrow. I think everything has been working very well and it’s good that both cars are up there.
“Tomorrow it’s a tough race, for the brakes definitely, but generally too so we need to care of that but it’s the same for everyone. A podium finish would be fantastic – we can hope – but a top five will be really great. We’ll do our best as always and we’ll see how we get on.”
Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane spared no thoughts on what he expects come race day.
“We have the podium in our sights,” said Permane. “This is, of course what we should be aiming for, and it won’t be an easy task given our opposition, but that’s what we’re gunning for. We’ll see what we can do.”
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